Schools and their Farm to School projects

Editor’s Note: This is a list of the initial grant recipients in the Farm to School program. Click here for a highlight of the program and a visit by Ohio’s Agriculture Director Robert Boggs.

Five Ohio schools were awarded $2,000 grants through the Ohio Farm to School Initiative. The recipients are Carrollton Extempted Village School District in Carroll County, Garaway Local School District in Tuscarawas County, Marietta City Schools in Washington County, River View Local School District in Coshocton, and Switzerland of Ohio Schools in Monroe, Noble and Belmont counties. Here are some of the key accomplishments at each school:

Carrollton: The high school purchased a salad bar featuring produce from local farmers. The school also is starting a wellness club and participating students will help in the cafeteria preparing produce for the salad bar.

Garaway: The fourth, fifth and sixth-grade students are planting a school garden this fall. The science curriculum will be linked to the garden, and the yearbook and journalism classes will photograph and write stories about the garden and their classmates’ work.

Marietta: In June, first and second-grade students picked strawberries at a local farm to serve in the district. Elementary classrooms will grow basil for the cafeteria, and AVI Food Service contributed an additional $5,000.

River View: The school cafeteria will purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from five local farmers for the fall menu. FFA students planted tomato seeds on 2 acres of school ground, with half of the crop to be used for school lunches and the remainder to be sold. In the fall and winter, the school will use its greenhouse to grow salad greens and herbs for the cafeteria.

Switzerland Schools: Fresh produce will be purchased for the summer feeding program and the school lunch and breakfast program. The district will sponsor an Ag Day for the 500 fifth-graders, featuring specialty crops information and the Ohio Proud portable kitchen. The district also is promoting its work at county fairs and building on its existing school garden program.

Chris Kick lives in Wooster, Ohio. An American FFA Degree recipient, he holds a bachelor’s in creative writing from Ashland University. He spends his free time on his grandparents’ farms in Wayne and Holmes counties.